Elevator car and door controlling mechanism



Jan. 5, .1932. H. V. Maco c 1,839,572

ELEVATOR CAR AND DOOR CONTRdLLING MECHANISM Filed March 3, 192 s 7 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR M Mair/11% Y B A'tlorneys,

93am, &

Jan. 5, 1932. H. v. M CORMICK ELEVATOR CAR AND DOOR CONTROLLINGMECHANISM Filed March 3, 1928 2 Sheets-Sheet -2 INVENTOR By Attor neys,

Patented Jan. 5, 1932 UNITED- STATES.

PATENT OFFICE HAROLD v. MCCORMICK, OFLONG ZBEACH,-NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE'ASSIGN- MENTS, TO WESTINGHOUSEELEOTRIG vnmavn'ron COMPANY, or CHICAGO, ILLINOIS,

A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS ELEVATOR can mp noon npplication filed March 3,

This invention relates to improvements in mechanism designed to control the opening and closing of elevator doors and associated mechanism for controlling the movement of the car in the shaftway.

It is an objectof the invention to provide a locking meansfor each door of the shaftway, a doorrontrolled disabling means whereby the car-operating mechanism may be rendered impotent, andmeans carried partly by the ear and partly at the various-landings whereby each door may be operatively con-- nected with its ownlocking means when the car is within a predetermineddistance above or below the level of the corresponding] land ing, and through which the locking means may be rendered ineffective by an opening movement of the door. 7 I

In the preferred form of the invention I herein disclosed, the interrelated door and car controlling mechanism'is indicated as being applied to an electrically-operated-elevator, and the specific type of disabling means selected for purposes of illustration'is in the nature of a cut-out switch in the leads which connect the usual controller with the motoroperatmg swltches,

The invention in its preferred form is also 7 illustrated as being applied to an elevator installation comprising doublegdoors 'operated by the usual self-closing type'o'f toggle opening and closing mechanisms, and the part of the operating mechanismf for the locking and disabling devices at each landhas been opened to the desi'red degree; As

herein illustrated, the operatingconnection by which the disabling deviceis rendered ineflective is also connected with'the doropening mechanism in suchlmanner' as to cause the car-operating mechanism to be rendered impotent during the initial opening movement of the door, thus making it' im-' possible to move the car fromthe landing by oon'rRoLLIne MECHANISM 1923; l Serial No. 258,879.

operating the controller until the door has been closed. 5

The operating connections between the elevator doors and their locking means and between the elevator doors and the dlsabling,

each landing, are separated 011 movement of the car froma landing, thereby. rendering such connecting mechanism inefiective whenever the car is in motion between two landings. The use of the door, and, more particularly, the door-operating mechanism, in the preferred form herein disclosed, as the primary operating elementof the operating connections with the lock-releasing and disabling' mechanisms makes it possible to effect a release of the locking means and'a disabling of the car-operating mechanism when the car is at a landing without burdening the operator of the car with any duty other than that which is necessary to stop the car and open the door in the usual manner. It is not at all essential that the disabling means whereby the car-operating mechanism may be'rendered impotent when the door is opened be carried by the car. Such disabling means may be associated with some controlling element ofthe car-operating mechanism in any appropriate manner. All that is important from the standpoint of the present invention i is-[that the disabling means shall beoperatively'connected with the doors atthe various landings so as to be rendered effective during the initial opening movement of any door.

In the; preferred form of the invention herein disclosed i V Figure 1 is a view of a double door and its operating mechanism at a landing of an elsvator shaftway, as viewed from within the shaftway,

Fig. 2 is a view in detail, drawn to a larger scale, illustrating :1 disabling device for the car-operating mechanism, a locking device 1 for the door at a landing, and their associated operating mechanism, the direct-ionof view ofFig. Qibeing taken at right angles to that ofFig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a view of thelocking device illustrated in Fig. 2 and a part of its operating mechanism, the parts being shown as having been moved to their door-releasing relation. Fig. 4 is a conventional view of one form of car-controller and an associated cut-out switch adapted for use as a disabling device for the ear-operating mechanism. 7

In Figs. 1 and 2 is illustrated a double door 20, comprising door elements 21, 22 mounted for sliding movement so as to open and close a door openmg at a landing 230i an elevator shattway.

As an appropriate means whereby the door. sections 21 and 22 may be opened andclosed,

pivotally connected to the arm 32 ofthe lever 26 as at 33, so as to form a toggle device adapted to prevent the opening of the door other than by the use of the mechanism when the pivotal connections ofthe various ele ments of thedevice are in alignment, as indicated in Fig; l of the drawings.

Any suitable means may be provided toserve as a stop and thus maintain the parts of the operating mechanismin normal position. Such stopmay comprise a projection 34 carried by the arm 32 of the lever 26 in'positionto enter a slot 35 in an extended end portion 36 of the lever 28. The arm 30 may be provided with the usual handle 37 whereby the toggle may be broken and the mechanism operated to open the doors.

The Q above-described door-operating mechanism may be rendered self-closing by means of a spring (not shown) which may be enclosed within a cylinder 38 pivotally connected at one end to a fixed part of the shaftway as at 39and having a piston (not shown) Y enclosed within the cylinder .and connected bymeans of a piston rod 40 with the lever 28 as at 41, the spring being confined between he piston andthe end of the cylinder in such manner as to be caused to store energy on the opening of the door and serve as a meansof automatically closing the door when free. Ifdesired. the piston and cylinder may be so related asto serve as a buffer in a well-known manner, thereby gently bringing the doors to rest at he end of the closing movement.

. lvleohanisms ot the character thus far described are well known in the prior art and form-no part of the invention herein sought to be protected, other than as a part ofthe combination herein claimed. I

The invention, which will now be described, contemplates the provision of means whereby thedoor at any landing maybe locked eX- cept when the car is within a predetermined nssasvz In the specific form of the invention hereii lllustrated, the door-locking device (see 1g 2) comprises a pawl 42 pivotally connected at '43 to one arm of a bell-crank 44, said bellcrank beingin turn pivotally connected as at 45 to a bracket 46 secured, to some fixed part of the elevator shaftway. The other arm of the bell-crank 44 may be connected by means of a link-47 with one endof a connecting rod 48, the other end of which (see Fig. 1) may be pivotally connected as at 49 with some part of the lever 28 such as to cause the rod 43 to be moved upwardly on the initial opening movement of the door-opening mechanism, therebycausin thebell-crank (Fig. 2') to be rocked in a clockwise direction.

The above-mentioned pawl 42 and associated parts thus far described cooperate with a stop 50, which mayv comprise a fixed part of thebracket 46, to limit the movement of the pawl and such connected parts and't'hus prevent any appreciable opening movement of the door unless the operation of the mechanism .is modified by mechanism carried by the car, which will now be described. This mech anism may comprise a canrlike shoe 51 supported by parallel arms52, 53, said arms being pivotally connected to the shoe as at 54, 55, and pivotally connected as at 56, 57, to a bracket 58 mounted on the car body 59.

The pivotal mounting 57 of the arm 53 may comprise a .pintle or shaft having a second arm 60 fixed thereto, said arm 60 being connected bymeans of a rod 61 with an arm 62 adapted to operate a disabling device for the car-operating mechanism, said device being represented generally by the reference character 63. I

J ournaled in an arm 64 forming part of the pawl 42 is a roller 65 adapted to cooperate with the vertical surface 66 of the shoe 51, which is so located as to be closely adjacent to the roller when the car is at the landing. The shoe 51, arm 64 and roller 65 cooperate to complete the operating mechanism for the locking pawl 42 when the car is at the landing, in'a mannerto be hereinafter described, and the shoe 51 and connected parts cooperate with the pawl 42 and parts connected therewith to complete an operating connection from the door to the disabling device 63 when the car is at the landing.

The foregoing description should make it clear that, if the car is at a distanceabove 'orbelow the landing such'as to remove the shoe from its cooperative relation with the arm 64and roller 65, an attempt to open the door by means of the door-operating mechanism disclosed in Fig. 1 will be unsuccessful. since the initial movement of the toggle mechanism willieause the bell-crank 44 to be rotated slightly in a clockwise'direotion such as ill cause the pawl 42"00 engage the stop 50 and prevent any effective opening move mont of the door. On the other hand, if the car is located within a distance above or below'thelanding determined by the length of the surface 66 of the shoe, the initial opening movement of the toggle mechanism of Fig. 1 will cause the roller (Fig. 2) tobe brought into contactwith the surface 66 of the shoe 51, after which, dueto the resistance oli'ered by the shoe and its connected parts, further clockwise movement of the bells crank 44 will cause the pawl 42 to be slightly rotated about its pivotal connection with said bell-crank to the position indicated in Fig. 3. 7 Under such conditions it wil'lbe apparent that no resistance will be offered to the continued movement of the toggle medialnism '(Fig. 1) by which the door may be freely opened to any desired extent. This continued movement of the door-opening. mechanism will cause the roller65 ofthe 'pawl42 to be brought into contact with the adjacent part of the bell-crank 44, after which the bellcrank and the pawl will be effective as aunit to drive the shoe 51 towards the right as illustrated in Fig. 2, thus moving theshoe and connected parts to the positions indicated in broken lines in said figure, this being the position in which the disabling device 63 renders the car-operating mechanism impotent and thereby makes it impossible tocausethe car to leave the landing until the door has been closed. As the door is closed, the shoe 51 may be caused to follow the return :movement of the roller 65' during the'counterclockwise rotation of the bell-crank 4st in which it is mounted, this return movement being' eliected, if 'desired',.by a spring (not shown) or any other appropriate means. I

The shoe 51 may be provided with surfaces 67, 68, which cooperate with the surface 66 to form a cam-like device adapted to gently engage the roller 65 and preventdestruction of the parts of the mechanism should the car be caused to approach alanding at which the locking mechanism, for some exceptional reason, has been manually released and the door left open, thus placing the parts of the mechanism in abnormal relationship. 7

Fig. a is a conventional representation of an electric controller 69,-comprising acouductive segment TO'whieh maybe moved by an operating arm 71' and thereby caused-to close either of two circuits, ione otwhich normally conditions the operating mecha nism of the car for ascent and the othenot controller from conductor 72 to conductor. 3

atelectric contacts 74:,- and unless this circuit is opened at another point by the disabling means, hereinafter to be'described, the car' will. beicaused to move in one direction byits operating mechanism. On movement of the arm 71 in a counter-clockwise direction, conductor 75 will be connected with conductor 76 at the contacts 77, and unless the circuit is opened. by the disabling means the car will be moved in the opposite direction.

The disabling device .63 whereby the 0011- .t-roller 69 and other parts of the car-oper ating mechanism may be rendered impotent by the door-operating mechanism disclosed in F 1, through the intermediate mechanism disclosed in-Fig. 2, as herein disclosed, comprises a double pole. switch 78 consisting ofconnectors 79,80, pivotally mounted as at 81, 82, by which, whenin closed position, conductor 73- may be connected with conductor 83., and by which conductor 76 may be connected with conductor 84. These connectors 79, 80 may be mutually connected by an insulated bar having a pin-and-slot connection or other appropriate coupling whereby the car may be caused to move either up or down in the elevator shaft'atwill. The effect of the force of gravity on'the shoe 51 and arms 52. 53, is suchas to tend to maintain the-parts otthe mechanism in the positions indicated in full lines in Fig. 2 and in broken lines in Fig.- 45, and to return them to such positions when removed therefrom. It desired, a. spring,fnotshown, may be provided to render such return of the parts to normal positions more certain. On the other hand, it the car is at a landing and an initial move ment is imparted to the door-operating mechanism of Fig. 1, the parts of thedisabling devicewill be moved through the interme diate operating mechanism disclosed in Fig. 2 to the position indioatedin full lines in Fig.4,thereby opening the leads 72, 73, 83, and 75, '76, '84 from the controller to the motor-controlling switches, thus rendering the car-operating mechanism impotent;

From the toregoing description it will be apparentthat the flock-releasing device for thedoor; when j coi'istru'cted in accordance with the improved form of the invention herein disclosed for purposes of illustration, comprises relatively movable partsof an op erating connectionbetween the door-opening toggle mechanisnr and the means tor disabling the car-operating mechanism. Such relatively movable parts includethepawl 42 and the bell-crank 44, which are caused to release the door from its locking means whenever the roller meets with the obstruction offered by the shoe 51 if the car. is at the landing. The separation of the lockreleasing mechanism into parts'one of which is mounted on the carand the other of which is mounted at the landing results in a separation of the parts of the 'mec-hanism' whenever the car ismoved away from the landing, thereby preventing an effective operation of the lock-releasing mechanism if the car-is in motion between two landings.

The invention is not intended to-be limited to the preferred form hereindisclosed for purposes of illustration, but should be regarded'as including modifications and V3 riations thereof within the scope of the ap pended claims.

VVhatis claimed is: 7

v1. The combination with an elevator car, the operating mechanism whereby it may be moved in its shaftway, .a door at a landing of the shaftway and an operating mechanism for the door, of a locking device for the door, a disabling device for the: car-operating mechanism having anoperating connection with the door, and a lock-releasing device whereby the opening ofithe door may be made dependent upon the position of the. car in the shaftway, the lock-releasing device comprising mutually cooperative parts mounted respectively on the car and at the landing and having'an operating connection 7 with the door-operating mechanism, the parts being so related as tobe separated and thereby rendered-ineffective except whenjthe car is within a predetermined distance above or below the landing,'at which timethe locking device may be rendered ineffective by the releasing device as a result of an. initial dooropening movement ofv the door-operating mechanism, and the car-operating mechanism may be rendered ineffective by the disabling device as a result of an opening movement of the door. Z 1

2. The combinationwith an elevator car, the operating mechanism whereby it may be moved in its shaftway, a door at a landing of the shaftway and an operating mechanism for the door, ofa locking device for the door, a disabling device for the car-operating mechanism having an operating connection .with thedoor, and a lock-releasing device whereby the opening of the door may be made dependent upon the position of the car in the shaftway, the lock-releasing and disabling devices comprising mutually cooperative parts mounted respectively on the car and'at thelanding, and the releasing device having an operating connection with the door-operating mechanism, the parts being so related'as to be separated and thereby rendered inefl 'ectiveexcept when the car is within a predetermined distance above or below the landing, at which time the locking device may be rendered ineffective by the releasing device as a result of an initial door-opening movement of the door-operating mechanism, and the car-operating mechanism may be rendered ineffective by the. disabling device as a result of an opening movement of the door. 1 i

3. The combination with an elevator car, the operating mechanism whereby it may be moved in its shaftway, a door at a landing of the sliaftway and an operating mechanism for the door, of a locking device for the door, a disabling device for the car-operating mechanism, and a lock-releasing device whereby the effective opening of the door may be'made dependent upon the position of the car in the shaftway,the lock-releasing V and disabling devices being operatively connected with the door-operating mechanism, the releasing device comprising mutually cooperative parts mounted respectively on the car and at the landing, the parts being so related as to beseparated and thereby renderedinefl'ective except when the car is within a, predetermined distance above or below the landing, at which timethe locking device may be rendered ineffective by the releasing device and the car-operating mechanism may be rendered. ineffective by the disabling device as a result of an opening movement of the door-operating mechanism.

4. The combination with an elevator car, the operating mechanism whereby it may be moved in its sha-ftway, a door at a landing of the'shaftway and an operating mechanism for the door, of a locking device for the door, a disabling device for he car-operating mechanism, and a lock-releasing device whereby the effective opening of the door may be made dependent upon the position of the car in the shaftway, the lock-releasing and disabling devices comprising mutually cooperative parts mountedirespectively on the car and at the landing, each having an operating connection with the door-operating mechanism, the parts being so related as to be separated and thereby rendered ineffective except when the car is within a predetermined distance above or below the landing, at which time the locking device may be rendered ineffective by the releasing device and the car-operating mechanism may be rendered ineffective by the disabling device as a result of an opening movement of the dooroperating mechanism. 7

5.- The combination with an elevator car, the operating mechanism whereby it may be moved in its shaftw-ay and a door at a landing of said shaftway, of 'a locking device for the door,-a disabling device for the car-operating mechanism, and an operating connection between the door and the disabling device including relatively movable parts adapted to serve as a lock-releasing device, whereby the elfective opening of the door may be made dependent upon the position of the car in the shaftway, the operating connection compris ing mutually cooperative parts, one mounted on the car and the other mounted at the landing, the parts being so related as to be separated and thereby render the operating connection inefiective vexcept when the car is within a predetermined distance above or below the landing, at which time the locking device may be rendered ineffective by the releasing device as a result of an initial opening movement of the door and the car-operating mechanism rendered inefiective by the disabling device as a result of a further opening movement of the door.

6. The combination with an elevator car, the operating mechanism whereby it may be moved in its shaftway, a door at a landing of said shaftway and an operating mechanism for the door, of a locking device for. the door, a disabling device for the car-operating mechanism, and an operating connection between the door-operating mechanism and the 'disabling device including relatively movable parts adapted to serve as a lock-releasing device, whereby the effective opening of the door may be made dependent upon the position of the car in the shaftway, the operating connection comprising mutually cooperative parts, one mounted on the car and the other a mounted at the landing, the parts being so related as to be separated and thereby render the operating connection ineffective except when the car is within a predetermined distance above or below the landing, at which time the locking device may be rendered ineffective by the releasing device as a result of an initial opening movement of the dooroperating mechanism, and the car-operating mechanism rendered inefl'ective by the disabling device as a result of a further opening movement of the door-operating mechanism.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto signed 7 my name.

HAROLD V. MCCORMICK, 

